Composer: Beethoven
Compositions: Leonore, 1805
Performers: Marlis Petersen s, Maximilian Schmitt t, Freiburger Barockorchester, René Jacobs
Catalogue Number: Harmonia Mundi HMM90241415 (2CD)

It was 1804 when Joseph Sonnleithner’s translation of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly’s Léonore ou L’Amour Conjugal fell into Beethoven’s hands; here at last was a story that satisfied his lofty ideals of enlightened humanism and egalitarian justice.

Despite loving his unruly child of the theatre to the end of his days – he called it “his crown...